


Just Another Number?

by Jakarva



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, POV Third Person, Self-Insert, Suspense, actioin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-02-16 12:10:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18691234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jakarva/pseuds/Jakarva
Summary: The next number The Machine gives is for a sweet art student, she and John take a shining for each other during their first encounter, but how will it play out?





	1. The Hideaway

**Author's Note:**

> I without shame love John, and I don't think there are enough Reese/Reader stories so I took it upon myself to give him some love. THis is also the first story I've written for Person of Interest so I apologize if it gets OOC.
> 
> Part of my wattpad book Jaki's Self-Indulgent BS Fanfics.

It was another average day, Y/N followed her usual routine and trudged in her rut. First the library, then the coffee shop, maybe after she'd change it up and go draw in the park for a while.

"Hey Laverne," Y/N murmured walking into the library, the scent of old pages and worn leather hitting her as she took a deep content breath.

"Y/n! What's the pick of the week now?" A stout woman inquired from behind her desk. Y/N chuckled and shook her head with a roll of her eyes.

"You're going to laugh," She teased as she wondered down an aisle.

"Try me."

"It's the Bazaar of Bad Dreams... Again." she added the last bit a tad sheepishly

"With all that King you read it's hard to believe that you don't constantly have nightmares." the short woman laughed and rolled her eyes before going back to her filing.

"What, this one is my favorite of his!" she stuck her tongue out in a childish manor as she went about filling out the card, which most spaces on consisted of her name.

"Mhmm, sure." she clacked away at her keyboard "Go flirt with that barista now."

"Oh please." her nose crinkled at the idea "Anthony is definitely not my type, you know that."

"I forgot, you like older mysterious men, Don't you?"

"Laverne!" Her cheeks flared a bright crimson "I'm leaving now, I can't believe you," Y/N laughed as she walked towards the door.

\-------

John wondered the library, just close enough to keep an eye on you but not enough to draw attention. His fingers drew across the canvas spines of old books as he listened to the conversation.

"Stephen King, seems like she's a horror fan," Harold's voice came through the ear wick "Bazaar of Bad Dreams, one of his most recent compilation books, it's a nice collection of short stories... Seems like she prefers them to novels, other books she checks out religiously are the Grimm Brother's Collection and a complete collection of Edgar Allen Poe."

"have we got anything else on her?"

"She likes sushi, she's an Art Major a semester away from graduating, she's had maybe three boyfriends in her life and she volunteers at an animal shelter in her free time." the bespectacled man sat back for a moment. "Who on Earth would want to hurt her?"

"That's what I'm going to find out, Finch." John's eyes trained on the woman through the bookshelves.

"Mhmm, sure." she clacked away at her keyboard "Go flirt with that barista now."

"Oh please." her nose crinkled at the idea "Anthony is definitely not my type, you know that."

"I forgot, you like older mysterious men, Don't you?"

"Laverne!"

A small smirk quirked at the edge of John's lips at the exchange and how the older woman poked fun at Y/N.

"Hear that, Mr. Reese?" there was a smile in Harold's voice "You could use that to get close to her, if you befriend her it could make our job exponentially less difficult." the pepper-haired man let out a soft laugh at the suggestion and shook his head. "She goes to a little coffee shop called 'The Hideaway'. Make sure you don't lose her." John nodded and hung up, deciding to snatch up the leather bound Grimm book just in case.

\---

"Um, a medium Irish Creme and a blueberry muffin please?" She ordered politely at the counter, offering a small smile when the man bearing the name tag reading 'Tony' beamed at her.

"Anything else? maybe my phone number? a date?"

She laughed a little nervously and glanced around, catching the tall man who had just walked in she let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding.

"No thanks, Anthony, just the coffee and snack." The light lilt that was usually in her voice had fallen out into a more flat tone at his insistence.

"Oh come one, one of these days you'll say yes like the smart girl you are."

Y/N shivered and couldn't hide the crinkle of her nose at the suggestion

"Just let me pay, please."

"I got it for you, Muffin," He grinned as if proud of himself.

"I'd really prefer if you didn't." She sighed, she was used to his crap, some days he tried harder than others, and honestly it was the stink of desperation that really made her not want to spend outside time with him. The Hideaway was her favorite coffee shop and she wouldn't let a new, somewhat creepy, barista ruin it.

"It'll be like a first date, c'mon, no harm." The blond man insisted all while she shook her head.

"Anthony-"

"Tony. The only person who calls me Anthony is my mother when I'm in trouble." He laughed, his brown eyes still stuck to her face. By this point John had taken up the spot behind her in line to keep an eye on the situation.

"Anthony, I don't want you to pay for me, and I don't want a date with you, please." Y/N's nostrils flared at the young man.

"But-"

"Well maybe I can buy your coffee for you?" John cut in having had seen enough of the man's failing attempts at convincing her to let him get her items. She jumped startled by his sudden appearance and he offered an apologetic (and charming) smile (that also caught her off guard) causing her to flush brightly. Tony openly glared at the older man that seemed to catch her attention.

"Oh, uh, sure, Thank you... "

"John."

"Well then, thank you, John I'd like that." The h/c girl smiled softly up at him to which he nodded and ordered his own before paying, it was then she noticed the book he had tucked under his arm "Is that the Grimm collection?" she inquired with a smile.

"Ah, yes actually it is," he admitted with what was perceived as a sheepish smile as he lifted the object. "I used to read them as a child, I thought I'd check it out once more." He responded with a light shrug.

"Um, would you like to sit with me?" She offered a little awkwardly while she gestured to a booth he assumed was her usual spot.

"Oh, you don-"

"I insist, really." She smiled more confidently this time

"Well, if you're sure."

"Well done, John." Finch spoke in his ear "Stay with her, I think I can get into the laptop in her bag."

"So, is that a common occurrence?" the ex-operative questioned gently as he sat across from her. Y/N was very aware of the set of brown eyes on the two of them as she cut her muffin in half and offered part to her 'savior'.

"Yeah, that's Anthony," Y/N began with a sigh "He started working here a few months ago and has this thing with me.

"I see why, you're a beautiful young girl," he charmed, not that it wasn't what he actually thought "Are you okay though?"

"I-" she puffed her cheeks out as she registered what he said and she once again rivaled a tomato "... Thank you." Y/N mumbled softly before taking a sip of her coffee. "Tony is harmless, just persistent," she deflated a bit "My biggest problem with him, aside from not knowing the word 'no', is that I can't quite pin down why I don't trust him." John cocked a brow at this. "I know it sounds crazy, but I pride myself on my initial instincts on people, but I can usually tell why I don't like someone." she shook her head "something is off with him and I'm not sure what."

"I think I might know," Harold began "Anthony has a history of being... overbearing.. with women he likes. He's not violent, but his type is definitely the kind that might set off some flags. I don't think he is the one we need to watch out for."

"So you have good judge of character," he nodded "I'd like to think I do as well." he paused "What made you trust me then?" John was genuinely curious with this one, not just trying to buy time for Harold.

"You have honest eyes." She didn't miss a beat "What I mean to say is that I truly believe you wanted to help me out of that awkward situation." she let out a small laugh and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked down into her cup. "So, um, is it everything you remembered?" she abruptly asked, pointing to the red leather that sat beside her new companion.

"Oh, yes," he chuckled softly

"Nice save." commented the voice in his ear.

"Tales that don't just end happily, but have a lesson were always a preference of mine," he explained "While the Grimm's didn't write happy stories they wrote ones I believe need to exist."

"Yes!" her eyes sparkled as she listened to his opinion "I always loved Grimm Tales and Aesop's Fables" Her smile was nearly ear to ear "I had a language class where we had to pick a children's book to translate, I was the only one who picked a fable."

"Almost in, she has a pin protected system... good girl." Harold murmured.

"You speak another language?" John inquired with a small tilt of his head as he sipped on his coffee. She beamed and started gesturing around with her hands proudly. It took John a moment but he recognized it as American Sign Language. He took a moment to think about what he was doing before carefully attempting to sign something back

'H-I M-Y N-A-M-E I-S J-O-H-N'

Y/N giggled softly and nodded.

"Close, some of your letters are a little off- may I?" she gently reached for his hands, smiling more when he placed his own in hers "Okay, so you want to make sure you're really clear on your letters if you're going to finger spell," she had such a light touch as she guided his fingers through the motions "And then there's shortcut signs for 'Name' and 'hello', and there are no little connectors" he watched her as she focused on sharing her knowledge "Aaannnd there you go!" she grinned, satisfied that she taught him a good introductory sentence. She pulled back a little too quickly when she had realized she had still been holding John's hands causing the man to chuckle genuinely.

"Oh, he can laugh?" Harold couldn't resist teasing his good friend "I think you two might be flirting, Reese you dog." If the taller man could roll his eyes he would.

"What do I owe you for the lesson then miss.." John tilted his head, pretending that he didn't know her name.

"Oh my god, I never introduced myself, I'm sorry! It's Y/N." an embarrassed flush coated her cheeks "I'd say saving me from my admirer would be payment enough, but I wouldn't argue if you wanted to do it again tomorrow, same time?"

"Then I'll meet you here, Y/N."

\------

John kept Y/n in his sights, snapping a few pictures after the two of you left the coffee shop.

"So you have a date tomorrow morning then."This time John did roll his eyes.

"It's not a date, Finch." he grumbled

"You sound a tad disappointed, Mr. Reese." John glared directly into the traffic cam he knew could see him.

"I'm old enough I could be her father."

"Not quite actually, but that's not the point." John could hear Finch typing "So i was able to find that she's part of some conspiracy forums, that and that she covers her webcams when not in use. Our girl may be a bit on the paranoid side."

"The paranoid survive."

"That's true, but i suspect one of her government conspiracies hits too close to home if any of the trojans I found mean anything."

"If shes paranoid I doubt she'd just download things that could infect her system like that."

"Precisely Mr. Reese... She's got a couple of threads on surveillance, they might be scared she'll find the machine, and if that's true we can't leave her alone for a second."

"Harold, I lost her."


	2. Safe?

"I just left the shop," She spoke on the phone.

"Did you have to dash Tony's dreams again?" another voice questioned over the line.

"Actually, not this time, James." she bit her lip with a small smile, and John snapped another picture.

"I know that tone," James teased in a sing-song voice "So spill, you met a guy didn't you?"

"He saved me," She grinned "Tony was particularly persistent this morning and he just swooped right in."

"Did he white knight his ass?" James sounded eager to get the details. Y/N flushed as she shook her head.

"He bought my coffee and we just talked for a while, but he gave me such a good feeling, you know?" She sighed softly "It was nice to talk to a guy and not have to be concerned on what his intentions really were."

John gave a light smirk "Well they aren't bad."

"What was that?"

"Nothing Finch."

"Whaddya Mean?" James pried a little more

"He wasn't some skeevy kid looking for a quick lay, it was refreshing... We're going to meet again tomorrow morning."

"Keep me updated, girly. Tom just got home, I gotta go, love ya!" he made a kissing noise before hanging up, making Y/N laugh lightly. She shoved the phone back in her pocket before continuing onward, only to feel a pair of hands snatch her.

\---

"What do you mean you lost her, Mr. Reese?" Harold's jaw tightened when he heard those words "How do you lose a twenty-six year old girl?"

"I'm going to get her back." John took off in the direction he last saw her in, only to catch her scarf around the corner. He quietly approached, gun in hand, and rounded to find Y/N kicking in her attacker's grip. He quickly shot a second man that came out of the truck in the knee, effectively downing him, Y/N took the moment to reach into her bag and stab a pair of pliers into the man holding her. she hit the ground with a thud, knocking the air out of her for a few moments.

"What's happening? Is everything alright?" Finch couldn't find them on his monitors due to the angle of the alley.

"Two men just tried to abduct Y/N," he began before sprinting forward hitting the man she had stabbed in the gut and scooping her up as she got her bearings.

"wh- John?" she wheezed as she squirmed in his arms "What's going on, who the hell are they?" she winced as she twisted again.

Another shot rang out, Y/N yelped and Reese ran faster.

"I've got her, Finch, but there's more coming for her," he glanced at her when he heard her hiccup "Hold on." He ducked into a utility closet and gently sat Y/N down. Tracks of her mascara ran softly down her cheeks and it tugged at the man's heart. "Hey.." he murmured uncharacteristically gently to her.

"What are you do-" He flicked off his ear piece so he could focus on the woman in front of him.

Y/N held her breath, hazarding a glance up at John.

"Are you alright, did they hurt you?" she shook her head her eyes locked with his own as a few more tears rolled down her cheeks. They both took the quiet moment to slyly examine each other, John noted the new mark on her face surely to bloom into a dark bruise. He moved slowly as to not startle her and gently brushed the tears from her left cheek.

"I'll live," she tried to joke but her voice wavered "... so are you some sort of hit man?" she laughed humorlessly "God, I can't ever meet normal guys."

"You said you trusted me earlier, do you still?" His eyes never strayed from hers. The h/c woman bit her lip for a moment before searching his face once more.

"...Yes." she paused "Yes I do." she nodded surely "You already saved me... Twice."

He gave a small chuckle at that.

"Then let's keep the streak going, shall we?" he then turned his com back on. John poked his head out the door to look around before reaching his hand back for Y/N, which she quickly took. "Where are we heading, Finch?" she looked up when she heard his voice.

"Take her to a safe house while we figure out what they want from her." with that the smaller man hung up.

"Come on." He gently tugged her along before hopping in a vehicle.

\---

"What all do you have in there" John glanced over at Y/N as they drove.

"Huh?"

"The Pliers." He elaborated. Y/N laughed and turned in her seat slightly to look at the older man.

"I was reaching for my palette knife, actually... But I'm an art student, John." she grinned "Pliers are the most normal thing I have in there, aside from my laptop." she thought for a moment "Those were my nice pliers." she pouted, and John just shook his head.

"Sorry for your loss," He teased lightly before focusing back on the road "Finch is going to meet us at the safe house and we're going to figure out why exactly these people want you." she sighed lightly and tucked closer to herself, opting to look out the window as they drove.

"Do you have any idea why someone might want to hurt you?" He broke the silence that had settled over the car.

"I've gotten a few threats on some of my blogs, but I didn't believe them, trolls on the internet, you know?" she shrugged but didn't look away from the now dark passing city "Between being the 'local nut' and a especially being woman in online games I tend to get a lot of them."

"It's true Mr. Reese, from what I'm seeing our dear Y/N has gotten plenty of idle threats, making a real one almost impossible to discern." Harold sighed softly and shook his head.

"Did you ever go to the police?" Reese inquired

"Of course I did," She looked at him "and I was told the there was no actual threat, so nothing could be done. To be fair the first ones were tame, but as they got worse there was still nothing to do." she shook her head.

"What have you gotten into?"

"Conspiracies mostly, most jokes, you know. Lizard people, moon landing, surveillance," she shrugged "It was after I shared my thoughts on different ways that the government may be spying on us is when it really got bad."

"Tread lightly, John." Finch warned.

"What do you think?" He asked quietly glancing at her to gauge her thoughts.

"They have access to our cameras, phones, internet history, all of it. I firmly believe it... Part of me believes that's why you were in the right place at the right time." She turned to look at him again, with a little huff at the stinging in her side.

"Do you think I'm with the government?"

"No, I don't, but I think that's who want's me dead." she went quiet again and looked out the windshield.

"Well that's it, she's right, and they don't like it, but other people believe it too, so why her?"

John watched her for a moment while Harold spoke, and he reached out and pat a gentle hand on her shoulder before returning his hand to the wheel.

"John?"

he hummed to let her know she had his attention. She paused for a few moments, unsure what she was really going to say.

"... What's going to happen?" she inquired softly, e/c eyes watching his face.

"We stop these people and you continue on with your life." he replied. Y/N swallowed somewhat thickly.

"And what about you?"

"I continue to do my job," He explained "Why?"

"So I'll never see you again, huh?" she deflated a little and suddenly became interested in the peeling polish of her fingernail.

"Sounds like you left a bit of an impression on Ms. Y/N..." Harold commented quietly

"... That's usually how it goes," He stated with a small shrug, catching how she curled up tighter.

\---

John gave her a brief tour of the place she'd call home for the next few days, Y/N glanced between him and Finch for a moment.

"are one of you going to stay with me?" there was no hiding the anxiety that bled into her voice. John let out a loud whistle and a large dog came barreling to his side.

"Y/N, Bear. Bear, Y/N" You watched as John had his full attention before muttering something in another language. Bear shifted to sit beside you, his tail going softly "If anyone tries to get to you, he'll eat them." the small yip from Bear helped convince you a little bit more. The two men before her turned to leave and she called out one last time.

"John," he turned to face her slightly as she trot up to him "be careful." and she placed a soft kiss to his cheek.


	3. I can't follow directions.

A small smile quirked the edge of John's lips at the small kiss.

"I always am." He murmured with a nod.

"You need to stay here, Ms. Y/N," Harold began "Bear can be quite good company, he's very good listener." He chuckled, and with that the left her to her thoughts.

Y/N wondered around for a bit, Bear staying close the whole time.

"Well, what now?" She inquired to her new canine companion, the dog made a soft noise and trotted away. "There goes that." She huffed and plopped into a chair, looking up when he came back with a book. Y/N smiled at the easily recognizable red leather and gently took it while patting the space beside her. "I guess I'll read to you then." she murmured and opened the book a business card of Harold's fell out, she flipped it over quizzically and stared at the phone number scrawled on the back. She looked to the dog then back at the number and pulled out the burner that was given to her.

[Harold?]

John's phone buzzed in his pocket, he pulled it out tapping a quick response before sliding it back into place.

[Would you be disappointed if I said no?]

She bit her lip with a smile, peering over the device to her company "Did you know about the card your dad left?" she laughed lightly when he wagged his tail. Y/N sat curled with Bear in their seat reading aloud for about an hour, the canine was dozing softly as she spoke. She closed the book and stretched with a soft squeak and cleared her throat. "I need to take a break, baby." she murmured patting his head as she got up.

\---

"Carter."

"Have you been able to pick out who has been stalking our art student?" Harold's voice rang through the detective's phone.

"Aside from the barista that likes her a little too much? Nothin' so far." Joss grumbled "Isn't this your job anyway?"

"While technically yes, it's a broad list of people who have threatened Ms. Y/N," he supplied.

"God, what did she do?" the woman inquired.

"She's rather into conspiracy forums," He chuckled lightly.

"Like aliens, moon landing, that kind of stuff? You're telling me someone wants to kill a tin hat crazy?"

"She's not as crazy as it sounds, Joss." John butted in.

"I hit a nerve there, John?" she teased gently. The ex-CIA agent frowned at her teasing and rolled his eyes.

"I just.. had a chance to talk to her."

"She is far from crazy, Detective Carter," Harold began "She's quite intelligent, and dangerously spot on in some of her ramblings. That is why they want her dead. Being an eccentric art type can only protect your knowing the truth for so long."

"Wait, so one of those is true?" The detective inquired incredulously.

"I am not at liberty to say, but she needs our protection."

"Sorry to break up this nice conversation, but our wacky art gal just left with the guard dog." Fusco interjected.

\---

"You up for an adventure?" Y/n asked Bear, smiling when he hopped up. "I need to get a few things from my apartment, you'll keep me in one piece, right?" he barked in response.

They left the house without rush, not noticing the detective watching the house. She walked at a comfortable pace, confident in the dog that John had tasked with watching her and easily made it to her building. Y/N climbed the stairs and let herself in "It won't take too long Bear," she smiled and flitted about the apartment grabbing a notebook, some pencils and pens before she heard movement. "Bear?" the next thing she heard was the dog going wild and some shouts, she poked her head around the corner to see he had taken down one of the intruders, but the other had noticed her. "Oh shIT!" she ducked back into her room when he came running after her, Y/N launched herself over the bed and grabbed the compound off the wall and quickly knocked an arrow.

"Get back here you little bitch!" the other man came running, Bear barking after him, as soon as he rounded the corner she loosed the arrow nailing him in the shoulder. Not a moment later John and Carter came bursting through the front door with guns drawn, Joss cuffed the first man while John rounded to check the bedroom and found Y/N with another arrow ready and pointed at the door.

"It's me, Y/N," John murmured raising his hands while he pressed his foot on the downed man's shoulder beside the wound. She gently eased the string back and un-knocked the arrow, sliding it back into the quiver.

"Is she okay?" Detective Carter called out joining the two.

"Yes, and proficient with a compound bow." He chuckled lightly.

"Okay... Aim was a little off?" Joss inquired.

"No, I didn't want to kill him." She shrugged, smiling when Bear came trotting back beside her "He did a good job," She smiled up to John as she pat the dog's head.

"Where'd you learn that?" The detective was impressed

"4-H."

\---

"What kind of 4-H teaches you to use a bow?" Fusco questioned over his container of fried rice to the h/c woman sitting cross legged across from him.

"The kind from a town where everyone grows up knowing how to protect yourself," she murmured through her noodles "I'm even better with a rifle, I just couldn't get to it in time" she shrugged offhandedly as she dug around for a water chestnut and grinning triumphantly as she found one, Lionel made a noise and scraped his into her container.

"Remind me to never make you mad," he laughed and shook his head,

"Noted," nodding in thanks for the vegetables.

"So what kind of things do you like to draw?" He asked trying to keep the conversation going.

"The lizard people who run the government." She stated without missing a beat, grinning when he froze "I'm kidding, Detective-"

"Lionel."

"Lionel," She sat down her pencil and closed her book before sliding it across the table to him "You can look if you want." she shrugged. He sat down his fork and wiped off his hands before carefully pulling it closer. Fusco flipped through a few pages of stylized characters and photo-realistic birds.

"wow.." he mumbled as he continued to a portrait of a friend of yours and a few more birds "these are impressive," he glanced up for a moment before flipping another page and pausing to look at her, she kept her eyes into her takeout box, "I think this is the best I've ever seen Wonder Boy look." a small flush hit her cheeks at the comment as he flipped to the next page and found sketches of Carter, Harold and himself.

"How long do you think I'll have to hide?" she changed the subject glancing up at him.

"Dunno, it depends on who's really after you." he shrugged "Might be this group, Vigilance."

"Vigilance? I've heard about them in my forums, they're some radical group right? why would they want me?" she paused, crinkling her nose.

"Don't know that either, sweetheart." He sighed out and passed the book back across the table. She shrugged and continued with her drawing of Bear.


	4. Insomniac

"I've got eyes on Collier," John murmured "He's heading for her apartment now"

"Find out what he's searching for, John, there's got to be more to this than her just thinking everything is being watched.... I'll keep digging in her files" Harold informed the ex-spy.

"Fusco, How are you two doing?"

"Miss artist is asleep now, I don't know how well she's been sleeping though." the Detective whispered.

"How so, Detective?" Finch cocked his head, and paused his typing.

"She almost looks scared."

\---

Collier rifled through Y/N's apartment, tossing papers, flipping furniture and tearing out drawers.

"Don't you know it's rude to be in a lady's apartment without her permission?" John teased, gun pointed at Peter.

"I'm looking for the truth, what's your excuse?"

"I'm protecting the innocent." he set his jaw as they locked eyes.

"Innocent? Hah!" Collier rolled his eyes "We know she has files that prove she isn't innocent."

"You find anything like that, Finch?" the taller inquired.

"I just found a series of encrypted files buried under art files, I'm decrypting them now. I'll let you know what I find" Harold responded.

Collier lunged for John easily getting deflected by the older man and stumbling under his own momentum, he recovered a moment later and clocked the taller in the jaw. The hit sent John back a few steps giving Collier room to draw his gun and hastily shoot, catching Reese in the shoulder and stumbling him.

"Mr. Reese! Are you alright?" the gunshot startled the tech savvy man.

"Fine, Finch." John was able to shoot Collier in the thigh before he took off again causing the ex-operative to curse and slump back against the floor.

\-----------------------

Y/n woke up a few short hours later with a kink in her neck and alone in the small room. For a moment panic rose in her throat like bile and she shot out of the chair, taking a breath when she found John in the kitchen. The man looked up when he heard her startled breath.

"We wouldn't leave you alone," He soothed as he began to remove the bandage on his wound.

She hadn't initially registered that he was shirtless.

E/c eyes landed on the angry looking puncture and she willed away the blush to look him in the eyes once more.

"I can give you a hand... if ya want I mean." she brushed a hand through her sleep mussed hair as a minor distraction for herself while John mulled over her words. Steely eyes roved over the various supplies on the counter and his mind wondered to trying to contort and clean the exit wound beneath his shoulder blade before finally nodding.

"... I'd appreciate it, Y/n." He offered a genuinely sheepish half smile as she nodded and stepped closer to peel the gauze off of his shoulder with a small hiss at how it looked. "Squeamish?" John raised a brow.

"Not horribly, but this looks painful," She responded, reaching for a rag and the alcohol "I'm sorry in advance, John." Y/n tried her damnedest to be gentle while she cleaned away the dried blood, apologizing once again when he let out a puff of air through his nose.

"I've had worse," he half joked trying not to focus on the warmth of her touch (despite her fingers being cold). Y/n let her eyes wander a bit as she grabbed the new roll of medical tape and sure enough the man before her had various scars littered across his skin, some a harsh pink against his usual complexion and others faded and softened with age. It pulled at her a bit to see the proof of the 'worse' on this caring person before her and she shook her head slightly to bat away the thought. A small yawn pulled from her lips as she secured that patch of gauze while he chuckled

"Oh, excuse me," she laughed lightly "if you want to turn around I can get that side, please." John wordlessly did as she requested trying to keep any wincing to a minimum as she used the alcohol once more. Y/n tried to focus on the task at hand, but it was hard to ignore the feeling of John's eyes on her.

As he had suspected the bruise on her cheek had bloomed an angry deep purplish red color that covered a large area and no doubt hurt. He tilted his head slightly as he quickly glanced to see if she had any other injuries, he was limited due to the sweat pants and tank she wore, but from what he saw she looked otherwise alright and moved his gaze back to her face. E/c caught his blue for a moment and she paused.

"That looks pretty sore, we should get some ice on it next." John murmured, looking down to the tile when she went back to what she was doing.

"I've had worse." The smile could be heard in her playful tone as she finished up and gently pat his shoulder before going to wash her hands. He rolled his eyes and shrugged his shirt back over his shoulders before going over to the freezer to look through it.

"Here," He pulled a bag of peas out and wrapped it in a hand towel before passing it to Y/n who huffed and shook her head with a smile "It'll help take the swelling down." She cocked a brow at him and crossed her arms "I won't tell anyone, you can still be tough" he teased making her crack and let out a laugh.

"Fine, but how am I supposed to read with a pile of frozen vegetables on my face? Bear was hoping we could continue where we left off." John began to button up his shirt and glanced to said canine who was happily asleep under the table then to the clock, it was rather late by this point.

"I think he might be right," He nodded to Bear Bond as he snored lightly "You need some rest." Y/n paled a bit at his suggestion and shifted slightly. "That's alright," He murmured startling her and thinking for a moment "I suppose I can take a turn reading." he offered, shocking her. "Can't leave Bear hanging, can we?"

"I-I... I mean, uh, sure if you want to" Y/n looked like she had been caught in the headlights and looked everywhere but at John. "Lead the way then." She nodded wordlessly, patting her thigh to wake Bear up.

\----

They had settled onto the love seat, Y/n in one corner of it and John in the other intending to leave a respectable amount of space but Bear decided that that was his spot and sandwiched between them. John opened the red book to begin on the next tale at a relaxed pace and soon found he had eased into it. The tension Y/n seemed to have been holding onto since the moment they had met started to melt a bit and she too began to relax and just listen to his voice. John glanced up when he noticed she had laid her head back. "Keep goin' I'm just resting my eyes," she mumbled, sleep obviously beginning to pull at her but he continued on.

A little while later Y/n was fully asleep, curled up with Bear as far on top of her as he could get and snoozing quietly. John stretched lightly not wanting to get up and risk the exhausted artist and opted for lounging back himself .

\----

Needless to say when Fusco came in for his turn to keep an eye on things he got a nice picture of the three of them.

Lucky for him he got his phone into his pocket before John opened his eyes.


End file.
